Riverbrian

If I'm Tyler Austin... I'm finding out where Rocco Baldelli is. I'm getting on a plane and handing him a nice professional prepared resume in person with 3 YEARS MINOR LEAGUE OUTFIELD EXPERIENCE capitalized and in BOLD font. Then I tell him that I will be in Georgia this off-season shagging 1 million fly balls every single day... complete with the proper footwork and throws to the cut off man and to all bases. Then I'm showing up at spring training when the pitchers and catchers report just so he knows that I'm ready to go. I'm seriously looking at Cron and Bour getting released and reading the writing on the wall. The ability to play OF will save his career. Along with the ability to hit balls into the upper deck.

Nick, I love ya but C'mon... we can't go around quoting splits based on 242 AB's vs. Righties and 125 AB's vs. lefties over two seasons of sporadic playing time and make it mean something because it's the only data we have. This is completely unfair to the player because everybody else gets to at least get closer to critical mass. I know you are trying to support him and I'm right there with ya with support for him myself but trying to salvage his value by turning him into a left handed specialist will only hasten his departure. Here's what you do with Tyler... You roster him and play him or you cut him because you have better options. And that is where my support comes in. I'm not convinced that Cron is a better option than Austin and if Cron is a better option it has to be negligible because I really can't decide who is the better option. My gut says go with Austin because he makes the minimum and will make the minimum again next year while Cron's 4.8M will increase at the hand of the arbitration guy. And... And... Austin has 3 to 4 years of minor league experience playing OF which just might come in handy. But even as I say... I'd go with Austin... I want someone who can step in for him in case he proves me wrong. With that said... You can't let Austin stop you from signing Cruz. If the Twins sign Cruz... you'll have to let him go unless you make him the 4th OF'er and let him battle the other outfielders for playing time.

Where do you want him? 1B, 2B, 3B are all possibilities. I'd give him Adrianza's roster spot. Sign Cruz... Go have fun watching the Twins play a baseball game.

I’m with ya to a point. I obviously have a different big picture fundamental issue with the DH only suggestion. However Cave and Astundillo can be stashed in Rochester. Bottom line is Cruz with the bat produces. There is never a guarantee it continues to produce but he’s been doing it big time for a long time. But you quickly give back your gains when rostering him forces Adrianza to 3B. You can sign Cruz but you have to piggy back him with a flexible option like Murphy. BTW... now you’ve added Cruz and Murphy. It should improve the offense and provide space for the core to develop. Cruz with Adrianza backing up at third? Then I’m out.

Nope, Murphy could play 3B after the bad slide or Murphy could play 2B while Schoop plays 3B. Options my friend... Teams need options.

It’s the roster spot that Cron, Cruz, Austin occupy. That’s why Adrianza is your option and a bad option for Sano insurance. Thats my point. If the club keeps Cron and Austin for 1B and DH. It eliminates the 25 man roster spot to provide Sano insurance from the DH position or elsewhere. Signing Cruz is great because the guy can hit but it forces Cron or Austin elsewhere. Cruz signs... Cron or Austin has to go and we are still a bad slide from Adrianza playing 3B everyday in May and hitting 1 homerun during that time and you’ve gained nothing. Cruz can hit... I love him but DH only players have roster implications as a result every single time. DH only spots will hit you somewhere else at some point unless two things happen. Everybody stays healthy or you design your roster with flexibility. If you drop Adrianza or Cron and sign Murphy to a contract. Go ahead and sign Cruz. I’ll stay quiet and smile because you have yourself covered for all eventualities and you can absorb the DH only roster spot. Thia team has too many rebound hopes with big question marks on their foreheads.

There is absolutely no chance whatsoever that I've forgotten where Austin, Cron or anybody came from and how they got here. There is however, a strong possibility that I just don't care because I fully understand the CBA and it's implications on the roster process, the limitations of a 25 and 40 man roster and the extremely thin margins involved in the decision making process of who teams can and can't keep and the frequency of how often they are wrong and let the wrong guy go. C.J. Cron came up through the Angels system. He was basically a bat only type chained to 1B or DH duties only because of his lack of positional flexibility. The Angels already had Albert Pujols for big money who did that very same thing and even though Cron out performed Pujols consistently. Pujols can't be moved because of his contract. Enter Shohei Ohtani who would play DH when not pitching and now you have Pujols, Ohtani and Cron to handle 1B and DH and no roster can absorb that much attention to these limited players so someone had to go. So... It was Cron traded to the Rays. The Rays needed a big bat replacement for Logan Morrison. Cron finally gets over 500 AB's with no Pujols to contend with and he has a decent year. Enter Ji-Man Choi. Who is a left handed version of Cron but was once blocked by Cron and Pujols with the Angels. Followed by the crime of having options while the Yankees tried Chris Carter, Greg Bird and Chase Headley out at 1B. Followed by a stint in Milwaukee where he had Thames and Aguilar to contend with. Choi only has to be paid the minimum while Cron has reached arbitration status and was due around 5 million. The Rays also have highly touted rookie Jake Bauers. So they cut the 5 Million with hopes that they could use that 5 million to get a Nelson Cruz or a bigger bat and they fully understand that they can't keep Choi, Cron and Cruz on the same roster. The Rays realize that if they don't sign Cruz or a bigger bat... they have still broken even and saved 5 million because Choi and Cron are the same players. Tyler Austin came up through the Yankees system... A system that is geared toward stacking up Judge and Stanton types and burning through minor league options to full exhaustion because they go get Judge and Stanton types instead. He comes up as on OF'er in the system but is moved to 1B right around the time that the Yankees were trying to Chris Carter, Greg Bird, Chase Headley and Ji-Man Choi at 1B. Was he terrible in the OF or was he moved to 1B because that was where the need and auditioning was going on? Tyler Austin runs out of options, typical Yankee procedure, not at all a crime against the player and they trade him to the Twins for Lance Lynn and get something they can use for him before he is tossed into the waiver pile. These guys are not nobody's. They are just low on jobs because they can only play 1B or DH and when you start piling all of these defensively limited power hitters up at 1B and DH, an over flow is created. Guys like Cron and Bour and Austin get spit out even though they clearly out hit the Adrianza's of the world, Guys like Austin and Voit never get a chance until one day... A player gets hurt, a hole is created, they happened to be in the right place at the right time and BOOM... Here come Luke Voit out of nowhere and everybody goes, "who is this guy"? but until Luke Voit comes out of nowhere... we got folks who call them "Nobodies". I won't do that. It's all about opportunity. Anyway, The Rays chose the cheaper option and let Cron go and the Twins sign Cron despite the cheaper option in Austin. So we did the opposite but both teams are looking at the same situation, neither team can really afford to burn this much attention on multiple players who can only play 1B and DH. So... as I stated before... if the Twins sign Cruz and it looks like we are competing with the Rays among the other teams... If the Twins sign Cruz, either Cron or Austin will have to go immediately... unless Austin can be moved to the OF (which I wish they would have tried in September when Rosario was injured so I had firmer grasp if this is even possible). And if the Twins go with Cruz at DH and Cron (or Austin) at 1B, it is still going to leave Sano completely on an island to sink this club or help this club swim because the 25 man roster has limitations, the CBA has limitations and players who can only DH or play 1B have limitations.

I just want to state that the book on Austin hasn’t been written yet. 347 AB’s is maybe a chapter. Burning through minor league options with the Yankees is typical Yankee operational style. I’ll make no assumptions of success or failure because he hasn’t been given the full chance yet. All I know is that he looked decent during short window with us and he makes minimum wage.

The Twins can sign Cruz and I believe his bat will play but it will indirectly cause issues with other positions due to roster space as you suggest. Cruz makes more sense for a team like the Rays who can move Bauers to the OF or AAA. And move Wendle and Robertson around. If Cruz is signed... the Twins must move Austin to the OF or release Cron or Austin to accommodate and you are still sitting there with an absolute undeniable need for Sano to stay healthy and productive. I’m ok with Cruz and would love the talent with the bat but only under the condition that the dominoes that need to follow the signing happen.

I wish they would. Castellanos is on the trade block by all reports. Castellanos can insure Sano and Kepler at the same time and probably could be acquired for a prospects not in the top 5. The problem right now will be roster space. If Cron and Austin or Cron and Cruz get roster spots I’m not sure they’ll have a spot for a Castellanos. Unless they move Austin to the OF and that will shut the door on a Cutch or Brantley signing. As for Schoop playing 3B. I’m ok with that but then I’m going to need an upgrade over Adrianza to replace Schoop at 2B when Schoop replaces Sano at 3B. I’m going to wait until the off season is complete to worry or not worry but at this early stage it sure looks like they are setting up for all eggs in the Sano and Buxton Basket without a sufficient safety net. That’s an unnecessarily risky roulette wheel spin that doesn’t take into consideration the many years of the ball hitting black with your bet on red. Safety in numbers. If they are projecting X performance from player Y to get Z amount of wins and I believe they are trying to do that with algorithms. They will eventually learn that they will have a better chance of getting the projected X performance if they have multiple players attempting it.

Going for it and standing pat each come in degrees. If you don’t like Schoop you can call it standing pat or going backwards if you’d like. If you like Schoop it has a degree of going for it so it’s in the eye of the beholder. Personally... I’m not suggesting specific names. I have my personal preferences but the front office has the analytics department and I’m going to trust them and assume they are more informed while also willing to understand mistakes will happen because it isn’t an exact science. I wasn’t expecting a Machado or Harper like going for it so filling holes with Schoop types are ok with me to a degree providing they fill all the holes with players who can help us win everyday if needed. If Ryan LaMarre types and Rule 5’s are on the roster and gathering dust. I will object. Apart from that my expectation is simple. Fill the every hole with players that you expect to deliver more often than not. If the data projects that players like Michael Reed can do that. I’m good but I’ll be able to tell via real time context as it happens and the utilization of each roster spot. You can still support this current core without a long term free agent signing. Standing pat to me means Ryan LaMarre.

You are exactly right. You have my endorsement to be the next GM of my favorite team. I apologize if my endorsement is worthless lacking the connections necessary. Cave has options... he can be stashed in Rochester and called up when injuries occur, I loved watching Cave last year and I applaud him but there is no reason to give him a 25 man roster spot and spin the wheel like he is a sure thing. He is in Rochester in case Kepler fails. Kepler does not have options... he is either on the roster or on someone else's roster. And the cool thing is that he is making the minimum wage which is the same price as Michael Reed or Jake Cave. So make him Michael Reed or Jake Cave at the same price. Kepler is the one of 4 outfielders on the roster if we sign Cutch. Why would anyone trade Kepler at his low point production is beyond me. Everyone should know what the acquiring team is going to do. They are going to handle Kepler like the Yankees handled Hicks. They will make him the 4th OF and hope that Kepler becomes what everyone wants him to become and they want Kepler because they think he might and they are hoping to get him for a 20th ranked prospect because he is at a low point in production. And then when he does become what everyone wants him to become. We will be sitting here discussing why the Reds have Kepler with a .900 OPS and we got the 20th ranked prospect who blew his arm out in Pensecola just like we did with Aaron Hicks. So... Go sign Cutch or whoever and keep Kepler. If Kepler starts playing like Kepler we got both Kepler and Cutch and life is good.

Not true at all and the first step to flooding the market with capable talent is to simply stop thinking of "Starter" and "Bench" when constructing your roster. I am honestly surprised that I get a ton of push back on this. I'm simply asking for 25 guys who push each other for playing time and to give the playing time to the players who are playing better. It's easy enough and should be easily agreed upon by everyone... Fill your entire roster with talent... who could possibly be against that but I get so much push back on it? I'm starting to realize it's because most people can't relate to anything but a "Starter" and "Bench" mentality because it's been all we've been looking at for decades and they can't let that mentality go long enough to realize that... WE REALLY DON"T NEED ANY PLAYERS that ONLY PLAY ON GETAWAY DAYS. Teams actually create those type of players by only playing players that way. They are self created on purpose by the "Starter" "Bench" mentality and it ends up handicapping the team in the end and this creates the perceived shortage of talent across baseball but it is self created and all you have to do is stop thinking "Starter" "Bench" bench when constructing your roster. The Dodgers and Cubs don't do this and they are light years ahead of the rest of the baseball as a result. The Mike Trout's... Those guys are going to play every day... Nobody is going to be able to push them for playing time because they are playing on another level than the majority of baseball players. But... there are only a handful of those Trout guys and The TWINS haven't had any Trout guys. We can't afford those guys, we haven't traded for any of those guys and we haven't drafted/developed any of those guys but because we deploy our starting 9 every year like they are all Trout guys, it does two things. 1. It locks in a "Real" disparity between an actual Mike Trout type on the other team and the Trevor Plouffe guy that we play like he is Mike Trout on our team. 2. It shuts the door and makes it nearly impossible to find the next Mike Trout guy by pure accident or development because the Trevor Plouffe guy is played like Mike Trout and ends up hogging all of the playing/development/discovery time. They are not all born like Mike Trout, identified in the minors as the greatest ever and simply promoted to "God Like Status" like everyone expected. There are also the Justin Turner and JD Martinez types who were released by other teams and the Jose Ramirez types who were 20th ranked prospects who exploded once they got regular playing time and every year... we have less roster space to find these type of Trout guys because of the "Starter" "Bench" mentality. In the off-season, this unnecessary of locking into a "Mediocre Starter" like Plouffe and a "Fine because he doesn't have to play much" Adrianza killing two roster spots with the best expectation you can have is average is ultimately retarding the overall development of a functional complete roster of talent and prolonging the rebuild we are waiting on and results in the ping-pong seasons of good years and bad years that the majority of teams go through. The teams that are consistently in the playoffs don't buy it with money... they make the playoffs consistently because they have options to turn to in case it all goes wrong with a "designated starter". The Dodgers have the money to spend... they don't need to find Max Muncy or Kike Hernandez or Chris Taylor, they can just buy it but the Dodgers are finding these guys and playing them. It's the Twins who can't buy it and need to find Max Muncy or Kike Hernandez or Chris Taylor but they can't find it because they settle for Trevor Plouffe and "Fine as long as they don't play that much". So you just perpetuate a broken cycle like we have been doing over and over again for decades. Just hoping the front office gets it right in the off-season. Pure finger crossing hope, that the front office through skill or dumb luck, got the right 9 guys identified, pure finger crossing hope that those 9 guys stay healthy and actually perform like they were projected. Because the other 3 or 4 players who round out the roster, are only "Fine" as long as "they don't play much" and offered contracts knowing that they are not as good as the pre-identified "9" guys who may end up on the 60 day DL. Now, if the starting 9 works great we got a great season... if it doesn't (like 2016 and 2018) we get to hear excuses like "we really thought we would get more production out Sano, Buxton and Dozier: or... "We had this one year contract team chemistry issue" or insert the excuse du jour and the team just ping-pong balls up and down each year based on if those starting 9 do their job. I'm sure the front office hates having to make excuses like that and all they have to do to stop having to make excuses like that... TREAT EACH ROSTER SPOT like you might need that player to contribute significantly. We take all of our limited investment capital (playing time) and spend it on single stocks that have proven time and time again to be volatile and unpredictable, instead of diversifying in multiple stocks to increase the odds of a stock going through the roof while protecting yourself against the failure of the other stock. Seriously, The closest guy we've had to one of those Trout guys was? Mauer 2009? Guys who actually play like they should play every day instead of the guys we play every day but don't play well enough to play every day. The majority of our "Starters" who play every day... are Trevor Plouffe types. On the Twins and across baseball,. Trevor Plouffe and his ilk prevent teams from finding the Max Muncy types (even Astudillo, Cave types) every year because of the "starter" "back-up" mentality and the playing of Trevor Plouffe like he is Mike Trout. This how off-seasons screw us over! Time and time again. 1. We have Trevor Plouffe. 2. 3B is therefore covered every single day. 3. No sense even thinking about someone else of at least equal or greater value to add to the roster. 4. Whatever Trevor Plouffe gives... is what we get. The Die is cast. 5. Now we must go find a player who isn't as good as Trevor Plouffe and call him a "back-up". 5. Give this back-up one of only 25 roster spots. 6. This player won't play much. I'm saying that whenever anyone claims that Adrianza is "good enough" because "He won't play much", you are just perpetuating a mentality that has existed in baseball for decades "Starter" "Bench" and you have committed yourself to the painful fate of asking Trevor Plouffe to be Mike Trout or die because there is no remedy for Trevor Plouffe hitting .200. It is the yearly declaration that nothing will happen to Polanco, Schoop or Sano so we can comfortably seek out lesser players to fill out the rest of the roster, while history shows time and time again that something will happen to at least one of Polanco, Schoop or Sano to blow the "He won't play much" part of the equation right out of the water and usually before May rolls around. All the Twins have to do right now is go sign Asdrubal Cabrera or trade for Brandon Crawford or whoever. It doesn't have to be a Machado type (although Machado would be nice) but get a player who can compete with Polanco and Schoop, add him to the roster and then let the players inform the manager who should play more often by how THEY PLAY. I don't understand how anybody could be against this idea? Unless they really enjoy admonishing Logan Morrison for his crappy play and want to ensure that there is a Logan Morrison available to admonish. Now, if the front office believes that Adrianza or Torreyes could be this Cabrera or Crawford type that can push and compete with Polanco and Schoop. Never mind... I'm cool. If the front office believes this, even if Adrianza or Torreyes fails to be Cabreara or Crawford-esque, I'll give the front office the benefit of my doubt and blessing. But... I'll know. If we see Adrianza consistently sitting on the bench in 2019 watching Schoop hit .186 as an everyday player. I will know that the front office signed a lesser player on purpose and was blinded by the concept of "Starter" "Bench" like many are and couldn't figure out how to get out of it when it all went wrong. Whatever happens will be their fault and I will not listen to any excuses like "We really thought that Schoop would do better". If the Manager doesn't want to play Gergorio Petit or a Motter like talent. Right now is when that decision is being made. Rosters are built in the off-season! The shopping is done and the supply is exhausted in the off-season. Once the season starts... the choices become extremely limited... like Motter type limited. Right Now... STAFF THE 25 Man to the hilt. All you have to do is get rid of the "Starter" "Bench" Mentality and get to work and then make the players compete for every roster spot. No more Logan Morrison walking past the lineup card and knowing he is on the lineup card despite producing at a "should be selling cars" level because we got Gregorio Petit and Taylor Motter challenging him. This is why I've been a broken record on this... People can't get past "Starter" "Bench". This isn't my flexibility diatribe... Flexibility is a by-product of having too much talent on your roster and the necessity of finding playing time for that too much talent. You got to get the talent first for every precious roster spot. This simple change in mindset is guaranteed (By ME) to speed up the rebuild tenfold.

Cool... I don't have a major problem with Adrianza (other than the odd spelling of his name). I'm just absolutely serious about every roster spot utilized on players that will push the other players and therefore I don't start with labels like starter or backup. I know most people use starter and backup... I'll wait for everyone to join me. It'll probably be a long wait but I'm patient.

Nope... LOL

Don’t get me started on the word “starter”. LOL

Both still kinda qualify as small sample sizes in my eyes so I wonder about the benefit of any statistical comparisons. They have some years under their belt but neither have a ton of extended action. Who knows but I’m hesitant to close the book a couple of pages in.

Playoff? No idea from me but I do firmly believe that the core is capable of leading the way. It’s going to be up to them and I’m all for throwing support that direction in case it happens. 7M... eh... it’s only money.

Service Time. I know the minute I talk about service time being a factor, I get a string of responses back saying that it doesn’t matter but to the front offices... it does and it’s why the one year deal is important. Gordon isnt ready and by the time he is ready... we could be 3 years deep into his service time letting him fail at the MLB level. They have 3 years to make a decision on Gordon. He might be ready this year... he might ready in 2021 or never ready. Signing Schoop or whoever to a one year deal provides an exit if Gordon establishes himself filling in for injury. Giving Gordon the job and saying “Ok Learn” would be the same mistake they made with Hicks.

Yeah but you multi-task

Myself... I basically ignored the one year contract comment because people come in all shapes and sizes. Over the history of this game plenty of one year contracts have worked great. Yes some were bad but it isn’t locked down certain either way. Closing the door on them because it didn’t work out with one or two of them would be a freightening over reaction and end up being a self imposed speed bump to keeping all avenues open. It's not the contract Its the individual players themselves that determine if it was a good acquisition. Now if you think we could have done better than Schoop. That is valid and I get the concern but one or two years doesn’t worry me. I’d prefer the one year if it’s someone who needs a bounce back.

I’m not sure I understand the importance. Everything depends on a bounce back. If he bounces back and the team is in contention. Thumbs up. If he bounces back and the team isn’t in contention you trade him for prospects and stock the shelves. Thumbs Up. If he doesn’t bounce back... you are happy it is just a one year deal. Thumbs Up. What is the downside I’m missing?

I recognize the inherent risk based on his woeful Brewers performance last year but if you are looking a player trying to repair himself and if successful... that production for a year is meaningful. But if you feel different that’s ok

Mike, What if Schoop only wanted to sign a 1 year deal? He's 27 and was surprisingly granted free agency coming off a disaster in Milwaukee. If I'm his Agent.. I'd advise him to do a 1 year deal to get his production back and then work on the pay day the next off season. If Schoop only wanted to sign a 1 year deal... would you say "I'm sorry only a two year deal is what we are offering"?

Signing Torreyes with Adrianza on the roster suddenly makes me feel a little better about Cron and Austin on the roster. My guess is that the boys are acquiring talent and setting up options. Nothing is in stone. I'm absolutely OK with that. Umm... Well. Unless I'm wrong